Top Items:
Maria Newman / New York Times:
Bush Learned Within Three Hours That Cheney Shot Hunter — President Bush was informed within three hours that Vice President Dick Cheney had shot a fellow hunter in South Texas on Saturday afternoon, the White House said today. — The shooting, which occurred at about 5:30 p.m. …
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White House:
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan — Response to a Question from the Briefing — MR. MCCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone. Let me begin with one update on the schedule today. The President will today — or today is submitting his 2006 Economic Report to the Congress.
William Douglas / Knight Ridder:
Cheney's companion at fault in shooting, White House says — WASHINGTON - The White House blamed the 78-year-old man whom Vice President Dick Cheney shot during a weekend quail hunting trip in Texas for the incident, as officials struggled Monday to explain why they waited nearly 24 hours before making the news public.
Scotty McClellan / Crooks and Liars:
Scotty McClellan on Cheney Shooting — Here's the press briefing with Scotty and the gang. — Atrios before the briefing: — Why was the White House relying on a Texas rancher to get the word of Cheney's hunting accident out over the weekend, asked Gregory, accusing McClellan of "ducking and weaving.''
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, firedoglake, Brainster's Blog, The Huffington Post, Attytood, Pharyngula and War and Piece
Austin American-Statesman:
White House defends handling of Cheney hunting accident — Austin lawyer who was shot by vice president now out of intensive care. — WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday defended its delay in disclosing the accident in which Vice President Dick Cheney shot a hunting companion …
rawstory.com:White House briefing: Reporters go after McClellan
Discussion:
THE BRAD BLOG, Democrat Taylor Marsh …, BlondeSense, King of Zembla, TalkLeft and Loaded Mouth
Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post:Bush in the GOP Crosshairs: the White House Gets Hit with Friendly Fire
Ian Urbina / New York Times:
Popular Ohio Democrat Drops Out of Race, and Perhaps Politics — Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders.
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Steven Erlanger / New York Times:
U.S. and Israelis Are Said to Talk of Hamas Ouster — JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 — The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats.
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CNN:
Poll: Americans nervous about Iran — Bush's approval rating drops to 39 percent — (CNN) — Americans are nervous about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran, but also worry about the ability of the United States and the United Nations to deal with the situation, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday suggests.
Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:
Expectations of Middle East Peace Drop Following Hamas Victory — Growing sympathy toward Israelis evident — PRINCETON, NJ — Following the election of Hamas as the Palestinian Authority's ruling party, Americans have grown more pessimistic that peace will ever be achieved in the Middle East …
Michelle Malkin:
DANA MILBANK: CLOWN — Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank turned up on an MSNBC show to talk about the Cheney accidental hunting trip shooting wearing this costume: — Download and watch the video (Windows Media .wmv file). — Hat tip: Tom Elia at The New Editor …
Paul Waldman / Washington Monthly:
John Fund Again? — It's not your imagination—the Sunday shows really do lean right. — If you're up early on Sunday mornings in Washington, you can observe a weekly ritual. Around 9am, a string of chauffeured town cars and SUVs pulls up outside the NBC studio on Nebraska Avenue …
Discussion:
Eschaton
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Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
Valerie Plame Leak Sabotaged America's Iran-Watching Intelligence Effort — An important and provocative report has just been published that suggests that Iran was the target of much of Valerie Plame's covert investigative work and that outing her identity had far worse consequences than has thus far been acknowledged.
Edmund L. Andrews / New York Times:
U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies — WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years. — New projections, buried in the Interior Department's …
Josh White / Washington Post:
'Don't Ask' Costs More Than Expected — Military's Gay Ban Seen in Budget Terms — The financial costs to the U.S. military for discharging and replacing gay service members under the nation's "don't ask, don't tell" policy are nearly twice what the government estimated last year …
Ezra Levant / calsun.canoe.ca:
Media runs scared — More than meets eye in failure to show cartoons — Early this morning, 40,000 copies of the Western Standard magazine, of which I am publisher, rolled off the presses. The cover story is about government lobbyists and corruption. — But in the middle of the magazine …
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Mark Steyn / The Corner on National Review Online:
OH, GOOD GRIEF, YOURSELF YOURSELF — I'm reluctant to disparage John Podhoretz as some effete metrosexual Ethel Merman impersonator, being one myself. But I can't see how the hunting thing is going to hurt Cheney or the GOP. For one thing, even when they've got the bones of a case …
